CSAT

Why to study CSAT | Importance of CSAT

CSAT

Even though you only need to score 33% marks in CSAT Paper- II, it can become a little difficult given the unpredictability of UPSC. We take the example of CSAT 2014.

In 2014, the level of CSAT was a quantum jump from earlier years. Even scoring 100 seemed a difficult task for aspirants. Why?

One of the most tricky areas of CSAT paper is comprehension, and the easiest area is Decision-making questions. Contrastingly in 2014 CSAT, Comprehension was increased both in difficulty and number; and decision-making freebies (20 marks!) were removed altogether.

Other areas like Basic numeracy, General Mental Ability, and Logical reasoning were also of a higher difficulty level. And interestingly a lot of questions were time-consuming too.

Class Xth level English comprehension questions were removed altogether following a decision of the DoPT. These questions used to carry a weightage of 15-21 marks out of 200 marks.

So, given the uncertainty of CSAT paper and the low cut off, what should you expect this time?

Please do NOT expect freebies (20 marks) – Decision making questions this time too.

Moreover, expect scrapped English Comprehension (Class Xth level) questions to be replaced with Comprehension and General Mental Ability questions this time.

Thus, a number of comprehension questions will be more. Expect the level of comprehension to be higher than before too.

Also, the level of General Mental Ability, Reasoning and Maths should go up this time given such a low cut off.

Expect the paper to be little lengthier than before.

Therefore, the overall difficulty level of paper should go up this time. And this also means that you can not totally neglect CSAT this time.

So, What should you be doing?

Devoting maximum time to GS, but ensuring that you keep in touch with CSAT. The best way would be to solve 4-5 questions daily starting from now, especially tricky comprehensions.

In the last one month or so before the exam (depending on your preparation level for CSAT), start devoting more time for CSAT. Start solving few tough mock test papers to check your preparation level.

Since UPSC can load too many questions from any particular section (e.g Basic numeracy), if you feel you are weak in any area, start working on it from now itself.

We also suggest that you go through our Comprehension strategy to crack tricky comprehensions.